St Hilda’s is an Anglican day and boarding school. Its campus is set within 14 leafy hectares of gardens and bushland at Southport, on Australia’s famous Gold Coast, a one hour drive from Brisbane’s international airport and one hour’s drive from the Gold Coast airport. The School features two libraries, Music and Performing Arts precincts, Visual Art and Technology hubs and the Chapel of St Hilda.

Timing of the Exchange (still to be negotiated but usually arranged around Term 2)

●Airfares, stop-overs, visas, medical insurance costs and transfers to the exchange school . This will be organised directly between your family and your travel agent.

●Allowance as agreed between the host family and your family, to cover things like school and family outings, additional travel, souvenirs, etc

As part of the commitment to fostering student exchanges, Dio will:

●Facilitate the exchange between the two schools and liaise between the exchange school administrators, including school enrolment, academic information, medical forms, references, term dates, orientation programmes for both outgoing and incoming students.

●Make the Dio student and her family aware of any implications regarding their academic programme and NCEA achievement.

●Provide a place and process for the exchange ‘sister’ coming to Dio

●Maintain regular communication with the Dio host family throughout the exchange.

●Provide a pastoral care mentor (the exchange coordinator) for the incoming student throughout the exchange period.

●Provide support to the Dio girl on her return from the exchange to help her integrate back into school life.

The family of the Dio girl on exchange will:

●Communicate with Dio and complete the required documentation for both schools including Police vetting (as a requirement of the Ministry of Education’s 'Code of Practice for the Care of Overseas Students' all Homestay parents, plus anyone else aged 18 or over who lives with the family must agree to Police vetting).

●Meet the financial obligations of the exchange.

●Communicate directly with the overseas host family and school where necessary for sharing information and building positive relationships.

The Dio family hosting an exchange ‘sister’ will enter into the spirit of the exchange by maximising the experience of the ‘sister’ by: